3. Ava
Chapter 3
Ava
It’s been a few days since I’ve seen Finn and there’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of him and wondered which office he had visited that day.
I searched his father’s law firm and Finn’s name doesn’t come up on the website, though unless he’s a partner or a senior lawyer, that makes sense. But I expect his father would have promoted him if he worked for him and I wonder if he didn’t follow his father into law in the end.
I look around the lobby of the building, wondering if I’ll glimpse him, but it seems like it was a one-off. That thought makes my heart drop like wet cement has coated it.
I saunter to the elevator, pressing the button for level thirty-seven, one of the highest floors in the building.
My cell phone dings.
Jameson: Saturday, 7pm. Are you free to attend a corporate dinner with me?
I tap the cell phone against my chin and smile.
Me: Mr. Secretive wants to take a date to a fancy function.
Jameson: Not a secret, and I’ve been thinking about that.
Do I want to know?
Three dots dance across my cell phone. I wait.
Jameson: Do you want to know what I’ve been thinking?
Me: I’d like to know how long you’ve been thinking what you’ve been thinking.
Because in reality everything was fine until a few days ago. He wanted nothing from me, apart from coffee dates, lunch occasionally and dinner on a Saturday evening if we could both fit it in.
I hate he now wants more.
Jameson: This has nothing to do with your ex.
The three dots appear again as I contemplate my reply. The elevator doors open and I look down to avoid the pesky gaps at the edge of the car.
My cell phone chimes.
“Hi Jameson,” I say.
“This is not about your ex. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, wanting to take it to the next step.” Jameson’s smooth, deep American accent coos into my ear.
“You don’t do exclusive, and I don’t do open relationships. We’re good as friends,” I whisper. I don’t really want everyone in the office to know he wants an open relationship.
“I only want you,” he says. “I know what I said, but I didn’t want you getting clingy. It was easier for you to not get attached.”
I burst out laughing. “It worked, but now you want to un-work it. It doesn’t pan out like that. Jameson, friends is all I can give you.”
“Have you thought about moving to the US with me? We can be a family. You, me and Emmy.”
You’re not listening!
I don’t know what it is about him mentioning her name, but anger snakes up my spine. “You didn’t want to meet her,” I hiss. “And now you want to play her daddy?”
“Ava,” he barks. “I did want to meet her, but you are protective of her and I appreciated that.”
“Why?”
“I want more now,” he says.
“And what Jameson wants...” I say and hesitate. “Anyway, I can’t work in the US.” Not wanting a full discussion about my daughter in the office.
Charlie’s eyes open wide as I walk past her.
“I’ll get you a visa and employ you in my company. You’re a lawyer. Every company has legal teams, mine is no different. That’s why I also want you to come to the corporate event at the weekend. I want the company to know about you. It’s time to show you off.”
There’s a moment of silence before he whispers, “Please.”
I glance at Charlie. I’m desperate for some ears to listen to my woes because Jameson has turned a one-eighty overnight. In reality, I know it’s only because of seeing me with Finn and finding out he was my ex, otherwise I would have been delighted.
“What’s the dress code?” I blink hard, not believing I’m agreeing to the evening. Opening the door to my office and quietly closing it behind me. I switch my computer on.
“Evening wear. I’ll have a car pick you up at six.” There’s a hesitation in his voice. “And drop you off the next morning.”
“No, Jameson, I’ll be going home.”
It’s Friday evening, the one night a week the girls get together. Telling each other about our woes, our loves, and hearing of Jade’s sex life.
We’re all in awe of her.
“I’m waiting,” Charlie says playfully, tapping her fingernails against the cocktail bar as though she has been waiting forever. We're propped against the bar, sitting on leather topped stools.
Charlie is a year younger than I am. She’s also one of my best friends since we met at university, but she dropped out with financial difficulties and without her degree.
But her legal credits got her the job as a secretary for the floor of corporate lawyers two floors below the one I work, but she was promoted to the executive assistant for the boss himself—Peter Bryant.
Charlie, along with Sophie, Jade, Bree, and Amber, are my favorite people in the world. Apart from Bree, everyone works with me.
I know Sophie from university. She helped me get the job in Bryant & Sons, but Jade and Amber are a year older.
The bartender pushes my vodka tonic. Charlie takes a pink gin with a splash of lemonade. Jade, Amber, and Sophie are planning on getting drunk and order two bottles of Merlot.
“I see you’re still seeing the sexy American,” Charlie sing-songs.
I place my index finger on my lips. “Like I keep telling you. I’m not seeing him. He's a friend.”
Charlie rolls her eyes to the ceiling and I realize everyone thinks more is going on with Jameson than is.
I blow out a breath. I don’t know if I’m desperate to tell someone about Jameson’s sudden change of heart, but also seeing Finn again. But I need to tell someone.
“He asked me to move to the US with him.”
“Who?” Sophie asks, taking a sip of her wine.
“Jameson,” I say.
“Keep up,” Jade says and laughs.
“Wow,” Charlie says, her mouth opened wide for a few seconds. “I thought I heard you saying that. Are you going?”
“No, Jameson is jealous because he saw me talking to my ex.”
There’s no reaction from them, other than a set of slow blinks, like they can’t interpret the information.
“And where was your ex?” Charlie finally asks.
“Getting into the elevator.” I never really thought much about it, probably the shock of seeing him and the shock of Jameson being so affectionate all of a sudden and in public. “He must have had a meeting.”
“What’s his name? I’ll find out. I’ll see who he signed in to see,” Charlie says, waggling her eyes. “I should have been a detective.”
“Finlay Jacks,” I say.
Charlie’s eyes open wide. “As in the son of Gaston Jacks.”
“Finn was here?” Sophie says and gasps.
I press my lips together and nod.
An enormous, incredulous smile rises on Charlie’s face. “Holy Mother of God. What on earth were you thinking of making him an ex?”
“He’s not as perfect as he looks. He tricked her into being taped having sex,” Sophie hisses. “Him and his mates are bastards ... every one of them.”
“Including Mason?” I ask, wondering about that. I heard she finally got to kiss Mason, but he left her with a broken heart.
“Especially Mason. You should run away with this Jameson guy and never look back.”
“No second chances for you Soph,” Charlie states.
“Nope, I prefer to be single. Men and family are not worth the effort,” she replies. "All I need is a sperm donor."
“Hear, hear.” Bree raises her glass of wine. “She needs to stay single. Men are only good for one thing and if they aren’t good at that, then...” she hiccups. I smile.
“Aren’t you a virgin?” Jade asks.
“I’m just saying.”
“Aren’t we here discussing Ava?” Sophie’s voice is short and snappy. “What do you know, Charlie?”
“His father’s company took three floors in the building around a month ago. I’m surprised you’ve only just bumped into him.” Charlie glances around the bar area, then stares at me over the top of her pink drink. “Do you think he’ll want you back?”
“Oh, no. That ship sailed and too much happened when we broke up.”
Sophie grins.
“Too much? Was it painful?” Charlie asks.
Was it painful? I swipe my tongue across my lips as I think of that. It was painful for a while. My heart was so broken, all I wanted to do was pick up the phone and beg him to take me back.
But he hurt me too much, and I could never forget that.
“It was the worst time of my life. I was so angry at first, but once I calmed down, the pain of the split hit me like nothing else ever could. I never wanted my heart to ache like that again, so I deleted his number and vowed to never speak to him.”
Charlie takes a long sip of her drink, not taking her eyes from me. Placing the glass on the bar, she purses her lips, giving me a sorrowful look. “That bad?”
I nod.
“Put you off men?” she asks.
“Not now, but I’m not interested in anything serious. My life is not ready for relationships.”
“Not even Jameson Sterling?”
“Nope,” I say, taking a sip of my drink.
Charlie takes all of her blonde hair and quickly braids it and places it over one shoulder. Her eyes not leaving mine as she does. “So you don’t want the gorgeous Finn Jacks. Would you be offended if I did?” She grins and her expression is devious, and I imagine her flicking her hair and swaying her hips as she moves toward him.
Yes.
“No.” I swallow the lump that has risen in my throat. Charlie is beautiful, but I know she lacks confidence, and if it wasn’t for that lack of courage, I know she would make a play for any man she wanted.
“Your mouth says one thing, your eyes tell me different, you protest too much.” She props her elbows on the bar, her fingers rhythmically tap her cheeks as she rests her chin on her hands. “But if you want Finn, you need to break things off with Jameson.” She lifts her eyebrows. “Otherwise it will get messy.”
“I don’t want Finn and I do not know why nobody believes me, but I am only friends with Jameson.”
“With benefits,” Jade asks, taking a sip of her wine and looking over the rim of her glass.
“With benefits is good. Until it isn’t. My neighbor was casual,” Charlie says, hesitating as she puts the word ‘casual’ in air quotes.
“Not friends with benefits, nor casual,” I say and sigh.
Charlie continues, ignoring me. “Until she started casually seeing someone else and then everything went crazy, noisy. The entire neighborhood heard them. The next thing they went off to Las Vegas and got married in front of Elvis.”
“Romantic,” I whisper.
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Ava,” Amber says with a grin.
“Oh it does,” I say and smile.
“And those Vegas weddings are my bread and butter,” Sophie, our resident divorce lawyer, says, taking a sip of her wine. “Divorces all round.”
Amber nods in agreement.
The bartender hovers around where we sit and waits for the conversation to stop. He is tall, lean with wavy long blond hair and earlier I noticed he has an Australian accent.
“You girls want a drink?” His voice is deep and masculine. He doesn’t look like Chris Hemsworth, but he certainly sounds like him.
“Same again,” Jade says, giving him a quick smile that he takes back with a grin.
“Only one more. I need to get home.”
Charlie looks at the bartender. “Maybe I’ll stay for a little longer.”
“I thought you were going to chase Finn?”
“Nah, not until you’re over him.”
“I am,” I say, determined.
Charlie’s lips curve up in a smile.